Carrie was engaged to be married 5 weeks after her death. She had taken the day off work to go to St. George from Cedar City to meet with one of her bridesmaids and make final arrangements for her wedding cake. She rolled her fiancé’s truck near Leeds. We found out later that a patrolman saw the accident in his rearview mirror and saw her fly from the truck because she wasn’t wearing her seat belt.

We will probably never know what happened to cause the accident. Speed was not a factor. Witnesses said that everything appeared normal as the truck came toward them on the other side of the freeway. She didn’t appear to be impaired in any way. There was no mechanical failure, such as a blown tire. We even checked her cell phone bill but the phone was not in use at that time. We have just had to accept that it was a tragic accident made worse because she had chosen to not wear her seat belt.

I don’t even know how to begin to describe the impact this has had on our family. Each person has dealt with it in his own way. Some immersed themselves in work or school and just tried to keep moving. Others couldn’t talk about it for a long time and just spent a lot of time alone trying to come to grips. We have finally reached the point that we can talk about her and remember the good and funny times without totally breaking down. The hardest times haven’t necessarily been the firsts…birthday, Christmas, Easter, etc. The toughest thing is when I’m not prepared and catch myself thinking of her or about something that I would normally have shared with her. Her dad thinks about the might-have-beens and then makes sure everyone has their seat belt on. Life happens and life goes on, but it definitely isn’t easy!